Last weekend, I happened to watch “Constantine,” starring Keanu Reeves, over the Movie Channel in Skyperfect tv. Actually I have already watched the movie on DVD, but it was fun just the same watching it all over again.

Watch a clip from the movie here:

First of all, notice that in the kitchen, next to the whistling kettle on the stove, hanging on the wall is a small Philippine flag (red and blue, with a white triangle, for those who don’t know what a Philippine flag looks like :)). Then, as John Constantine finished whispering into the possessed girl’s ears, she responded:

“Pa-pa-ta-yin na-tin si-yaahhhhhh!” This is Tagalog, a dialect in the Philippines. It is also referred to as “Filipino,” after it was made into the country’s national language. Translated, it means: “We will kill him!” “Siya” could refer to a woman or man, but in this case it’s obvious as to whom it was being addressed.

After the demon-busting business by Constantine is finished, the girl’s mother and relatives (?) rushes to her and babbles in another foreign language, but only now it doesn’t sound like Tagalog anymore. Sounds more like Chinese to me. So is the girl supposedly “Chinese,” but possessed by a Tagalog-speaking demon?

Why Tagalog? Go figure!